Gloucester United rounded off the group stages of the Aviva Premiership A League with a trip to Northampton on Monday evening. The hosts finished off their chances well against a young Gloucester side and came away convincing 49-9 winners.

A clinical and streetwise Northampton Wanderers side secured their home semi-final in style, as they subjected a youthful Gloucester United side to a 49-9 loss.

The hosts, who look set to take on Harlequins in the semi-final ran in seven tries in the process, and condemned Rob Thirlby's men to a heavy defeat.

The scoreline, however, was an unfair reflection on the play, as the young men in Cherry and White battled for every ball at every breakdown and did each other proud. It was not to be a second semi-final appearance in a row, but a valuable experience for the hugely promising side.

With a place in the Aviva Premiership A League semi-finals at stake, a youthful Cherry and Whites outfit aimed to finish off an impressive and promising pool campaign with a bang.

Gloucester started well, two impressive rolling mauls were brought down illegally by Wanderers and Billy Burns opened the scoring with a simple penalty.

But the hosts hit back immediately; a kick off was misjudged by the jumping pod and veteran wing Paul Diggin was put away by Rob Verbakel for a simple finish.

The Wanderers maul then bore fruit, a powerful surge saw Ethan Waller break away and the prop had enough momentum to stretch over despite the efforts of Alex Woodburn.

With Jonny Hill limping off, the Wanderers pushed for more points, Gloucester battled fiercely at the breakdown but were often outnumbered and it allowed Dickson to add three more from the tee with only twelve minutes played.

Billy Burns then added a second penalty as the hosts were penalised at the scrum.

Alex Woodburn was then sinbinned in bemusing fashion. The young flanker was quick to jackal a Teimara Harrison break and the turnover was secured. Until the referee decided the Hartpury RFC man was not rolling away. It was a very harsh decision and Gloucester had lost a man at an already competitive breakdown area.

Dickson added the penalty to add insult to injury. Burns then added his third as the Wanderers flew off their feet. It was nip and tuck with both sides struggling for territory.

Dom Waldouck looked to have burst over in the corner but good defence from Cheshire held the centre up over the line. The Gloucester front row then earned the penalty at the proceeding scrum and Gloucester could ease the pressure.

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The last action of the first half saw Wanderers cross for their third try. Verbakel broke through midfield and, despite a good tackle from Alex Woodburn, Teimana Harrison muscled his way over for the score.

The Wanderers secured their bonus point try early on in the second period, as a lucky bounce fell for Waller who fed Howard Packman who had an easy finish.

The home side had their tails up now and carved through in midfield. Paul Diggin latched onto Dickson's neat inside ball and fed Vasily Artemyev for a simple score.

With both sides unloading the replacements benches, both sides looked to throw the ball around but several bizarre decisions from the officials broke the game up and both teams struggled to gain fluency.

All territory and possession was now in favour of the hosts as Gloucester United defended bravely but the green, black and gold wave kept coming.

The defence was finally breached again. Artemyev ghosted through a hole to cross, and Dickson again converted well from the touchline.

There was a welcome return on the evening for Ross Moriarty in Gloucester colours, with father Paul watching on from the stands and the flanker was his usual fierce self, getting a good hour under his belt as he returned from injury.

The home side rounded off the evening's scoring as James Craig crossed in the corner after a good Alex Day break.